Redemption
by topher07
Summary: The sole surviving family from Amity Park, the Fentons move to Megaville.  Here Danny meets new friends, old enemies, and brings with him a dark secret which could destroy them all.  Danny Phantom and Bleedman's PPGD crossover
1. Leaving the Past Behind

Disclaimer: I do not retain the rights to any legal property used in this Fan Fiction. Bell is the property of Bleedman from the Powerpuff Girls doujin web comic on Snafu Comics

"It's all my fault." thought the young Danny Fenton as he stared vacantly out the window of the FentonRV as it barreled down the road toward Megaville. His father, Jack Fenton, drove the van while his mother sat in the seat next to him, reading a travel book on Megaville. Even now, they continued to wear their trademark jump suits, Jack with orange and Maddie with Blue. He turned to his sister Jazz, who was sleeping in the back of the van. Her normally neat composure sent into complete disarray from the events of the past week. He wished the two of them had the time to talk since leaving; she was the only one who really new Danny and what had happened. Luckily, he managed to keep his parents blissfully ignorant of the true fate of Amity Park, his old home.

He turned back towards the window, seeing the trailer filled with mostly his parent's ghost-catching equipment bounce along behind the RV. "Amity Park, My home, Sam and Tucker. Everything I ever knew or loved. All gone. And it's my fault. How could I have been so stupid?"

Danny stared down at his right hand. On it he wore a white glove with a black archaic rune painted on. After checking to see that his parents weren't watching he slowly removed the glove, exposing a small green spore on the backside of his hand. The second that Danny removed the glove the spore sprung to life, throbbing and growing in size. Danny quickly shoved his hand back in the glove, retuning the spore to its dormant state. The spore was his curse; a remnant and constant reminder of what he had done.

He had managed to save his family and keep them far enough to survive. Without anywhere else to go, they settled on moving to Megaville, mostly for its safety. Danny closed his eyes and wished that with this new town he'd be able to forget his past and start a new life. With that thought, Danny, for the first time in days, began to slip to sleep, only to be brought back with a booming "WE'RE HERE!" from his father.


	2. What was that?

Danny climbed out of the car and stared at his new house. It was much larger than his old house, but then again he was now living in a much more suburban area. His parents ran behind the van and opened the trailer. Danny walked back and looked in the trailer, beginning to unload the piles of equipment stored. A good portion of the trailer was filled with his parent's inventions, but most importantly was a pile of machine parts stored neatly in the back. This was the Fenton Ghost Portal and was truly the start of everything.

Jazz slowly climbed out of the side of the van, still groggy from her sleep. Danny and his father continued to unload the large, heavy equipment while his mother, grabbing Jazz, unloaded the lighter items. They had barely finished unloading the van when the ground stared to rumble. They all looked up just in time to see three bright streaks of light fly across the sky; one brilliant magenta, one light blue, and one emerald green.

"GHOSTS!" cried Danny's Parents as they ran off in the direction of the light.

After his parents were out of sight, Danny turned to Jazz and said "I don't think those were ghosts. My ghost senses never went off but I still want to check it out"

Jazz looked at Danny with a look in her eyes that he has never seen before, one of concern and strangely, love. "Danny", she began "You can't keep running headfirst into thing. You should go check that light out just be careful. Please, just be careful." Then she did something she has never done before; she gave him a soft kiss on the forehead.

"Don't worry. I won't let myself get caught up again." Danny looked down at his right hand. "I have something to always remind me of that. Well, I'm going ghost!"

With that, Danny began to glow and with a flash of light, he changed completely. Danny's normal black hair was replaced with snow white hair and his blue eyes glowed a ghostly green. His normal clothes changed to a black jump suit with white gloves and boots. The rune painted on his right glove turned a crimson red, the force of his powers activating the full effects of the protective enchantment. After completing his transformation, Danny Phantom flew off in the direction of the light, leaving his sister standing by the van, hoping history doesn't repeat itself.


	3. Titans collide

It was a bright sunny day as the Powerpuff Grils, Blossom, Bubbles, and Buttercup, flew across the city of Megaville, having just been released from class. Without warning, Blossom, the pink powerpuff, stopped midair and turned around, scanning the sky. Buttercup, the green powerpuff, stopped, turned to Blossom and asked "Why'd you stop?" Bubbles, the blue powerpuff, who was lost in her usual daydream of soft, fluffy animals and had just realized her sisters had stopped flying, turned around and flew back to meet them. 

"Someone is following us" replied Blossom, the wind blowing through her long red hair. "Show yourself, whoever you are!" She cried out.

Realizing he'd been caught, Danny Phantom made himself visible to the three sisters; creating a shocked reaction from all three. He gave a soft chuckle to himself. After spending the past several years as the ghostly protector of Amity Park, people became accustomed to seeing ghosts.

"EEEEKKK! A Ghost!" shrieked Bubbles.

"Don't be stupid Bubbles. There's no such thing as ghosts." scolded Buttercup.

"Don't be so quick to judge, greeny. She's right. I am a ghost" replied Danny.

"Well then, let's see if a ghost can bleed. And the names Buttercup." cried Buttercup as she charged Danny, her hand clenched in a fist, ready to strike. Without even thinking, Danny went intangible; allowing Buttercup to pass harmlessly through his body. The anger on her face turned to shock as her fist sailed straight through him, missing anything solid. Danny became solid again and said to Buttercup "Look I don't want to fight.", when he was struck in the back by a beam of bright blue light, causing him to wince in pain. Danny turned to see Bubbles, with a look of terror in her eyes, begin forming a second attack in the palm of her hand. Not wanting to get hit again, turned and created a green shield of ghost energy, inadvertently deflecting Bubbles attack towards Blossom, who had been watching the fight with some intrigue. The reflected blast caught her off guard, causing her to block the attack with her hand. The resulting mixture of her sister's energy and traces of ectoplasm from the shield caused her to lose feeling in her arm, leaving it to hang limp.

Seeing her sister injured from the attack caused Buttercup to go into a rage, and seeing the opportunity while Danny's back was turned, delivered a punch that could level a building. The force of the punch was so great that the glove on Danny's right hand flew off, leaving the spore exposed. "Noo!" cried Danny as the glove floated to the ground below. The spore on his hand quickly sprung to life and, rather than growing as it did before, buried itself into Danny's skin. Danny cried out in agony as the spore burrowed into his skin. Realizing the ghost had stopped attacking, at least in their eyes, Bubbles and Buttercup halted their assault to tend to their sister and then turned, with puzzled expressions, towards the screaming Danny. Danny, forgetting all about the girls, grabbed his hand as the spore caused an intense burning sensation to spread from his hand and through the rest of his body. Floating in mid air, Danny curled into a fetal position while clutching his hand.

"How hard did you hit him" asked Blossom? "I've never seen someone in so much agony."

"That punch should have killed a normal man but he is far from normal. Besides, he is grabbing his hand which I didn't touch."

Between his screams, Danny cried out "Run. Please for the love of god, Run. I can't hold it back much longer. Run if you want to live"

"What is going on?" asked Bubbles.

Her answer was soon given, as Danny had stopped screaming and looked up at the girls, his normal green eyes glowing a shade of blood red. With a look of hatred in his eyes, Danny formed a huge ball of ectoplasmic energy in his right hand. Defending their injured sister, Bubbles and Buttercup both fired beams of energy from their eyes. Danny, almost lazily, deflected both shots with a flick of his wrist from his free hand. With an inhuman moan, Danny fired the ectoplasm at all three girls in a shotgun pattern, spraying them with thousands of energy balls. The force of the attack knocked all three girls unconscious; leaving Danny to laugh as the girls plummeted to the ground below.

Suddenly, Danny eyes changed from red to green and then back to their normal blue. His hair began to darken as the spore worked its way back to the surface, giving Danny control over his mind and body again. Realizing he was changing back, Danny floated to the ground to find his glove. He found it lying right next to the unconscious Blossom; which he grabbed and shoved it on before reverting back to his normal, human self, returning the spore once again to a dormant state. "I'm sorry." He whispered to Blossom before losing consciousness himself.


	4. Wheels in Motion

Deep below the surface of the earth, the fight between Danny Phantom and the Powerpuff girls was being watched on a large monitor by Dr. X. The flames on his head jumped with excitement as he watched the battle, stopping the screen as Danny changed back into his human form. Nearby, the young white Powerpuff, Bell, played innocently with the Irken robot, Gir.

"How interesting." Started Dr. X. "I have never seen powers quite like his. And he claims to be a ghost and yet there is something stranger about the boy."

"That is because he is only half a ghost." Came a deep, unknown voice from somewhere behind the doctor. He turned around to see a lime green portal open up in the middle of the cavern. Bell stopped playing and turned to face the portal, her snow white hair flowing in the vortex created by it. The few cluster members in the cave at the time flew over to see what the commotion was about. Out from the portal floated a tall spirit wearing a white jumpsuit with a matching white cape. His jet black hair styled up into the shape of two horns and his black goatee framing his ghastly green face. "My name is Plasmius and I know a thing or two about young Daniel Fenton."

"YEAAAA! We're DOOOMED!" chimed in Gir, who Bell held close to her body.

"What an annoying little creature." came a second voice from the portal. Dr X looked past Plasmius to see a large, pale technical creature with flaming green hair walk through.

"I almost forgot to introduce my associates. This is Skulker, the ghost zone's greatest hunter." started Plasmius. "And this is Ember McLain." pointing to the young, pale woman with fiery blue hair who had just walked out of the portal with a guitar strapped to her back.

"Ok, so what is your purpose here in my lair? Why should I care about anything you have to say?" replies X.

"Because I can give you the one thing you desire. Power beyond imagination" replied Plasmius. "There is a forbidden realm in the Ghost Zone", waving towards the portal, "which contains a power unlike any you've ever seen"

"And why tell me this?" asked X, crossing his arms.

"Because we need something from you. We need Her." Plasmius responded by pointing at Bell.

"WHAT!? NEVER!" bellowed X as he charged the trio. Ember pulled her guitar around and strummed on it, sending a shockwave out causing X to be sent flying backwards. Bell quickly jumped to her feet and flew towards the fallen Dr X. "Daddy, you OK?" she asked.

"I'm fine sweetie" replied Dr X as he slowly climbed to his feet. "You are obviously strong. Stronger than I it seems. So tell me, what do you need my daughter Bell for?"

"As strong as we are, we have our limits. Your daughter, however, has powers even you are not aware of. We merely want to bring these powers out and use them to overcome an 'obstacle' standing in our way."

"What do you plan to do with her?" growled X.

"Make her similar to the ghost-boy. Half girl and half ghost." replied Plasmius with a look of greed in his eye.

"And you can do this without harming her?"

"If you don't trust us, then you can see our test subject." Plasmius turned to nod towards Skulker who proceeded to reach into the vortex and pull out a glowing Queen Vexus, bound with an ectoplasm chain, and throwing her to the ground at X's feet. "If we can do it to an android, we can do it to a human child."

"Queen Vexus!" exclaimed Samantha, dropping to her knees in honor of her queen; the remaining cluster soldiers following in suit. Skulker pressed a button on his gauntlet, causing the chains to vanish. The now freed queen took one look at her ex-captors and flew up and out of the cavern; followed closely by the cluster soldiers.

Placing a massive claw of Bell's shoulder, X turned to Plasmius and said "Very well. I will allow it. However, If anything bad happens to her, you will suffer greatly" growled X, his eyes glowing a crimson red.

"You have nothing to fear. She is much too precious to both of us for me to allow any harm to come to her." Plasmius responded. "However, the choice is hers alone." Turning to Bell, he asked, "Would you like the power that I am offering?"

"I will accept on one condition. That I may use my powers to kill the Powerpuff Girls." replied Bell, with a look of Bloodlust in her eyes.


	5. New Friends and Allies

As Danny slowly regained consciousness, he made out 4 blurry figures standing over him. How long he had been out or even what exactly had happened was a complete mystery to him.

"Looks like he's coming to" said an unknown male voice.

"Good. I'd feel bad about beating on a sleeping man." said a second, female voice.

"Calm yourself, Buttercup. How bout we at least give the guy a chance to explain what is going on." said another female voice.

As his vision cleared, Danny recognized three of the figure of the girls he had previously fought. The fourth figure, a male with bright red hair, looked down on him through his half moon glasses. Danny groaned and sat up, holding his head in his hands. "What happened?" he muttered.

"We wanted to know the same thing ghost-kid. I saw you transform back just before passing out." replied Blossom. "Who are you? Why are you in Megaville? And why were you following us in the first place?"

Danny, realizing there was no way to lie his way through this one, began his tale as Danny Phantom. "My name is Danny Fenton. My parents, Jack and Maddie, are world renowned ghost hunting experts. About two years ago, they were finishing preliminary designs on a portal that would open a door into the ghost zone. Something went wrong and it failed to start. My friend, Sam, talked me into looking inside the portal when my parents weren't looking. While in there I accidentally hit some button causing it to start up. I was caught in a torrent of ectoplasmic radiation, torn halfway between the human world and the ghost zone. My DNA was coated in ectoplasm and when I awoke," Danny transformed back into his ghost form", I was part ghost."

The young boy, with a look of awe, leaned closer to Danny. "You DNA was spliced together with that of a spectral apparition. Fascinating."

"Yea, and you are….?"

"I'm sorry; I didn't properly introduce myself. My name is Dexter, Boy Genius. I was walking by the park and heard the unmistakable scream of Bubbles. With your permission, I would like to take a look at your molecular structure sometime. I've never seen a ghost before and think it would be quite a treat to study."

"Quit pestering him, Dexter. By the way, my name is Blossom and these are my sisters, Bubbles and Buttercup. We are the Powerpuff Girls, past defenders of Townsville and now Megaville. Our father, Professor Utonium, created us to be the perfect little girls using sugar, spice, and everything nice. During the process, he accidentally added Chemical X to the mixture, which gave us our special powers. So what did you do once you gained your powers?"

"It took me some time to fully gain control and I would have a lot of accident. I would often turn intangible and fall through a floor or my pants would fall down. After a while, I gained control over them and started using them to protect my hometown of Amity Park. You see with the construction of the Ghost Portal many other ghosts were able to slip through. My friends, Sam and Tucker, would spend countless nights out tracking them down and capturing them. At least we did before……" As he trailed off, Danny stared down at the ground, a single tear forming in the corner of his eye. "I can't talk about that yet. Let's just say there was an accident in Amity Park and my family was forced to leave town. And this thing," staring at his gloved hand "is just one of the reminders of what happened."

Danny fell quiet, his head buried in his knees. The four just stood there looking at him, then looking at each other. Blossom was the first to speak. "Well it was apparent you were acting in self-defense. Buttercup did throw the first punch. I think I am willing to give you the benefit of the doubt. This city can always have an extra pair of hand to help keep it safe." She extended a hand towards Danny. He looked up at her in disbelief. "They actually trust me." Danny through. "So what do you say, Danny. Friends?" Blossom asked.

Danny reached up and grabbed her hand. "Friends" he said. Just as he began to get to his feet, Danny saw a familiar silhouette fly across the sky. His eyes grew narrow with rage. "Plasmius" he growled climbing to his feet, his hands clenched tight into fists. "I have to get going. Looks like one of my problems has decided to follow me here."

Blossom grabbed his arm and shook her head. "Your one of us now. And we don't fight solo." Danny looked at the three girls and Dexter; all of whom were smiling at him. "Thank you." Danny said smiling. "Its good to have friends to fight with again. Lets get that creep." With that Danny and the Powerpuff's flew off after Plasmius with Dexter, pulling a rocket pack out of his school bag, following close behind.


	6. New World, Old Faces

"This is almost too easy" cackled Plasmius as he fired another energy blast at a guard. He looked back at the path of destruction he had just made. Looking forward he turned intangible and passed through the next door. He was still one piece short of completing a new portal to the ghost zone; the old one had been destroyed when Amity Park was lost and the portal they arrived in Megaville closed shortly after their arrival. Skulker required a fusion reactor to stabilize the portal; which is what brought Vlad to the Megaville Nuclear Power Plant. Reaching the inner chamber, Vlad finally saw what he had been sent for. Looking at his watch he knew he only had a couple of minutes before Danny caught up with him. He quickly flew over toward the reactor and fixed a small metallic device to the surface.

Vlad pressed a button on his watch and spoke into it. "Skulker, the transfer receiver is attached. Begin the download now."

"Very well" came Skulker's voice from the watch. "It should take a couple of minutes to complete."

"Good. That gives me some time to chat with Daniel"

Almost on cue, Danny passed intangibly, with the Powerpuff girls and Dexter, through the wall into the fusion core room. Turning solid again, Danny, the girls and Dexter hovered in place, facing Vlad; standing there, arms crossed with a large grin on his face.

"Welcome Daniel, I was wondering how long it would take you to get here", moving his gaze from Danny to the others he added, "I'm proud of you Daniel. Bringing little girls to do your dirty work for you; its so touching."

"Who are you calling a little girl?" cried Buttercup, flying towards Vald, fist held high, ready to strike.

"Didn't you learn anything from your battle earlier, girl?" chuckles Vlad as he duplicated himself. One clone fired a blast of purple ecto-energy at the charging Buttercup; while the second clone charged and caught Danny, guard dropped, in a swift uppercut, sending him flying through the roof of the plant. When he regained his balance, Danny looked and saw he had been thrown high above the power plant. He looked over to see the Vlad clone floating across from him, looking smug. Danny's eyes narrowed as he prepared to charge Vlad, his hands glowing green with energy.

"Danny, why do you consist on trying to beat me?" questioned Vlad. "You can't win. And don't you remember what happened last time you tried to stop me? Amity Park was destroyed. Your little peons, Sam and Tucker were they, gone in an instant."

"How dare you speak of them like that!" roared Danny. Lost in rage, Danny fired a two-handed ectoplasmic bolt directly at Vlad, who barely blocked the assault with his ghost shield. With Vlad unbalanced from the attack, Danny bolted forward connecting a strong right hook to the side of Vlad's face, which he followed up with a barrage of energy blasts. With Vlad covered in a veil of smoke, Danny paused to catch his breath. The rune on his glove pulsating from the energy being used. When the smoke cleared Danny was shocked to see Vlad standing there, apparently only slightly injured.

"I must say Daniel that your skills are improving quite nicely. I'm guessing in part to the spectral spore. If I hadn't shielded myself, you might have actually caused some real damage." Joked Vlad. Turning serious, he added "But now playtime is over. My other half should have beat your little school girls by now and now its your turn." Vlad began forming a large energy ball in his hand, leaving Danny frozen in fear.

"I can't believe I still cant beat him even with half of his powers." Thought Danny. "I guess I have no choice but to resort to…."Danny reached for his gloved hand and prepared to remove it, but was frozen by the memory of his friends. Those who had died last time he made a rash decision. Danny knew he was out of time and that he could never avoid an attack now. However that attack never came.

"We got it. Transfer successful." Came Skulkers voice from the watch. "Looks like you were saved by the bell." Vlad said. Danny saw the second Vlad clone fly up through the roof of the plant and refuse with the first clone. "We shall be seeing you later." added Vlad before vanishing in a puff of smoke, leaving a stunned Danny floating alone.


	7. Black Eden’s new masters

Deep under the earth's surface, in the bowels of Black Eden, Skulker worked furiously; welding several components onto the recently stolen fusion reactor. Bell sat in the corner of the cavern, watching as Gir danced around Skulkers feet, who was obviously annoyed by the robot.

"His heads big. Why is his so biiiig?" cried Gir, clamping onto Skulker's leg.

"That's it! This creature must die!" exclaimed Skulket, throwing the blow torch to the ground. With a small mechanical click, he produced a large, menacing rocket launcher from his wrist and aimed for the grinning robot. Before he could fire, a bring beam of white light flew across the room, striking the launcher; which exploded upon impact. Skulker, in shock, turned to see Bell pointing a smoking finger in his direction, as if pointing an imaginary.

From the other room came Ember's voice, "If she scraps you again, I am not breaking Technus out of the Ghost Zone to repair you."

At that moment, Vlad appeared in the lair in a puff of smoke, and promptly collapsed. In a flask of light, Plasmius transformed into the tall, white haired, billionaire Vlad Masters. "Young Daniel is much stronger than I anticipated. If he didn't buy my bluff, he would have beaten me." Though Vlad. Ember floated over and started to help Vlad to his feet, but was instead motioned to come closer. Vlad whispered in her ear, to which she nodded and flew off through the cavern. He the slowly climbed to his feet and stumbled over towards Skulker, who was back to work on the reactor. "How close are we to being set" he asked.

"I am just wiring the reactor to the doctor's computer. Speaking of which, where is he? I'm surprised not to see him still hanging around here." Replied Skulker. Vlad quickly grabbed Skulker by the neck and pulled him in close. "Shut up, you idiot" whispered Vlad. "I had Ember take him out for a little errand. Bell still looks to him as a father so I had to get rid of him….at least for the time being." Releasing him, he asked, "So are we all set to go?"

"Yes. All system are good"

Smiling, Vlad turned to Bell. "Are you ready, my child?" She clenched her fist and nodded. Bell stood up, walked over, and stood next to the fusion reactor, which had been attached to a circular set of four diodes. Each diode tilted slightly towards the center of the circle. The diodes were attached to a single power conduit, which connected to the reactor. Bell stood in the center of all four diodes, watching as Skulker, using a set of protective tongs, placed a small sample of the spectral spore into the nuclear reactor. Sealing the reactor, Skulker floated towards Vlad who was standing by the controls.

"Well, here goes everything." Vlad entered the initiation command, causing the reactor jumped to life. With a small hum, it de-materialized the spectral spore, fusing it with the atomic core and transferring small molecules of it into the diodes, which began to glow a soft green. With a crack, a small green bolt of lightening jumped from the diode, connecting with Bell who winced in pain. The first bolt was followed by a second, and then a third; until she was under constant barrage of electricity. As the bolts continued, a swirling green mist surrounded her, blocking her from view. Vlad, watched hungrily, even as Bell's blood curdling scream of agony echoed through the cavern. And just as soon as it all started, the machine fell silent and the cloud began to dissipate.

Vlad peered into the cloud and saw the silhouette of Bell, hunched over on hands and knees. As the cloud cleared, Vlad grinned and laughed at his success of the creature he had just created.

"This is almost too perfect" he though to himself with an evil grin. "All the pawns are doing exactly as expected. Beware, young Daniel. Your time as hero of this world are soon coming to an end."


	8. Family Reunion

Danny continued to float, staring at the spot Vlad had been just moments before. "I have gotten much stronger since the last time we fought and he was still able to beat me with only half of his powers." Danny thought to himself. "Maybe I'm not cut out to be a hero." Danny then looked down to see the Powerpuff girls and Dexter, battered and bruised, flying up towards him. Obviously Vlad had been a little more than any of them were ready to handle.

"I'm guessing things didn't go quite so well for you guys either." He asked

Blossom, holding her hand over her left eye, replied "He wiped the floor with us. We couldn't even touch him; all our attacks just flew straight through him."

"How are we supposed to fight a ghost?" added Buttercup, holding her side.

"I think its time to go see if my parent's have unpacked the lab equipment. There's some stuff there that might be useful for us." said Danny. With that, Danny flew off in the direction of his new house, with the girls and Dexter following close behind him. As they approached, Danny slowed down and noticed that the Fenton RV was not in front of the house. "Good. They aren't home."

Grabbing Blossom's hand, who in turn grabbed the other, Danny turned them all intangible, allowing them to pass through the roof of the house and all the way down to the basement. "Wow, they work fast." thought Danny upon entering the basement lab. His parents had already hooked up the ghost portal and unpacked most of their ghost fighting equipment. In one corner of the lab stood Jazz, carefully working on what appeared to be a wrist laser. Danny sighed; his sister had been working nonstop on new equipment since the accident; it was her only real stress release while traveling.

Turning tangible again, Danny and the girls dropped to the floor; where Danny changed back into his human form. "Hey, Jazz. How's it going? Where's Mom and Dad?" he asked. She turned around, relieved that he was ok, and replied "They came back after running off and, realizing they didn't have anything with them, came back to grab the Fenton Foamer, and then ran off again." Turning towards the girls she added "And I guess these are the 'ghosts' that you went after."

"Yea. These are the Powerpuff Girls, Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. And this is Dexter. We had a little rumble in the city park. I guess I kinda spooked them. I'm not used to people not being used to ghosts."

"The Powerpuff Girls!" Exclaimed Jazz, with a look glee. "I've heard about you. I read the thesis written by Professor Utonium on you three and also his paper on the chemical structure of Chemical X. Sugar, spice, and everything nice somehow reacted with Chemical X to give the perfect girls superhuman abilities. And Dexter, the Boy Genius; I feel honored. Your knowledge of animatronics and electronics is second to none."

"Vlad is here." interrupted Danny, snapping her out of it. "I don't know what he's up too but he stole the nuclear reactor from the Megaville Power Plant. I need some of the ghost fighting equipment for the girls; they were pretty much defenseless against Vlad. Also, I should probably bring the thermos with me seeing as Vlad almost always has someone doing the dirty work for him."

Jazz nodded and walked over to a large box on the other side of the room. She opened the box and pulled out the Fenton Thermos and tossed it to Danny. The Fenton Thermos was, basically, a thermos that could capture ghosts. Digging deeper she found four Specter Deflectors, belts that would weaken any ghost that came into contact with the wearer, which she tossed to the girls and Dexter. The last thing she found were small wrist rays, which she also passed to the girls and Dexter. Pulling her head out of the box, Jazz asked "Is there anything else you need?"

From behind Danny came an answer in the form of an alien female voice. "I would. You got anything to eat; I'm so hungry I can barely keep myself together."

In shock, everyone turned to see a young girl floating in the air behind them. Her pure white hair, pilled back into a pony-tail, and glowing green eyes reminded the girls of Danny's. Her outfit was similar to Danny's, with the same insignia and being primarily black, but was cut off revealing her stomach. Her pants were much baggier and the entire enable was also half white, being separated diagonally. Thinking on instinct, Bubbles and Buttercup crouched into an attack position, gathering energy into their hands for an attack. Danny, seeing that the girls were ready to strike, grabbed them by the arms and shook his head.

Stepping forward, Danny smiled and addressed the girl. "Hello, Danielle. It's been a while. I haven't seen you since we destroyed Vlad's Lab." Seeing the confused looks on his friends' faces, he explained, "Danielle is like me, half-ghost and half-human. The difference is that she was made by Vlad in the attempt to clone me into the 'perfect half-ghost son'. Danielle, this is my sister Jazz and my friends Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, and Dexter."

Danielle smiled and waved before turning back to Danny. The smile dropped from her face as she asked, "I wanted to ask you, what happened? I flew back to Amity Park to visit you and when I got there…there was nothing; not even the remains of buildings or even life. It's like the entire town disappeared into thin air. I did however find tire marks heading off towards Megaville, which I followed to you."

Danny walked away from Danielle and stared directly into the ghost portal; the sadness in his face enhanced by the soft glow of the ghost portal. Turning back to face his friends, he sighed. "Well, I guess its time to tell you everything; about Vlad, about the thing on my hand, and about what happened in Amity Park. And I have to tell you…how everything that happened…is my fault."


	9. A Haunted Past

Danny sat on the floor, sighed, and began his story:

--------------------------------

"It was little more than a week ago when everything happened. Sam and Tucker were stuck helping their parents that evening, so I was left to patrol the city alone. After several uneventful hours, I was about to call it quits and head home. It was at that moment that, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Vlad pass by holding something. Curious, I decided to follow him and see what he was up too. He eventually led me to the park, which had developed a small portal to the ghost zone. It was then that I recognized the article that Vlad was holding; it was the Infi-map, a map of the ghost zone that can tell the time and location of temporary ghost portals. After watching Vlad disappear into the void, I instinctively followed him, knowing that he could only be up to no good. Since the ghost zone is mostly open space, I turned myself invisible so that I would be able to follow him without being detected. After following him for what felt like hours, he finally stopped and landed on a large, floating land mass that was almost completely covered by a glowing green fungus. I watched as Vlad landed on one of the few areas of land not covered by this fungus, and using a pair of tongs, pull a small sample out of the ground. Pulling out what appeared to be a small scanner, he began analyzing the fungus's cellular structure, while pulling another sample out of the ground and placing it in a sample tube and sealing it. Looking back at the scanner, Vlad let out a roar of frustration.

"Three weeks of analyzing these spores and still nothing. The infi-map was able to lead me to this, saying it is one of the most powerful materials in the entire ghost zone, but it is less than worthless. All I discovered so far is that it is spectral in nature that embeds itself into a host, much like a parasite. The small boost of power is not worth the after effects. But maybe, there is something else. It does react when exposed to ectoplasmic energy. I might as well keep playing with this stuff."

At that time, I it was time to rain on Vlad's parade. I flew down and snatched the sealed spore from him and turned visible again; just in time to deliver a well placed punch to his face. My sneak attack, which caught him off guard, sent him flying out over the spore field. Regaining his composure, he turned to face me with a look of rage in his eyes.

"Hey, Vladdy, that's from my Mom! And, green has never been your color." I joked as I played with the sample tube I had swiped.

"What are you doing here? And give me back my sample of spectral spore. It is of no use to you." he demanded.

"I should be asking you the same thing. I don't know what your up to Vlad, but what ever it is, it has something to do with this." I said, as I placed the sample on my belt loop.

Snarling, Vlad made the first move, firing an energy blast right towards me. Jumping out of the way, I retaliated with an energy beam of my own, striking him directly in the chest. The force of the blast caused Vlad to wince in pain but he quickly recovered, glaring at me.

"I will ask you one last time. Give that sample back to me Daniel." he demanded.

"I heard you say you wanted it because it was powerful. And if this stuff can give you more power, well, that's all the motivation I need to keep you away from it."

Vlad's body tensed up as his eye's glowed red. "You have no idea what you are dealing with, do you boy?" He then split his body into three Vlads and charged me. I was able to vaporize one of the clones but the other two quickly overpowered me, each striking me with an ectoplasmic blast. The blast felt like thousands of volts of electricity flowing through my body. I collapsed to the ground, giving Vlad time to fire another barrage of energy. With barely time to react, I formed a protective dome of energy around me, allowing the beams to bounce off harmlessly. As I struggled to get up, I heard the Vlads laughing at me. "Don't you see Daniel, you can't beat me. You will never be strong enough to beat me. Why don't you just go home before you hurt yourself?"

Being a stubborn teenage boy, I was unable to acknowledge my own weakness. I did, however, knew that Vlad was still much stronger than I was and that I could never beat him in my present state. Remembering what Vlad said about the spore and its affects on power, I stood up and uncorked the tube. Vlad, obviously aware of what I was about to do, screamed "Daniel, NO! Applying that spore to yourself will kill you. I have seen many ghosts phase out of existence under the influence of the spectral spores."

But I was too proud and determined to beat him that I completely ignored everything he tired to tell me. I removed the glove on my right hand and turned the tube upside down over my hand, allowing the spore to fall directly onto my bare skin and attach itself. Almost instantly I felt the spore engrain itself onto my skin, filling me with an incredible power, the likes of which I've never felt before. However as the power continued to flow into my body, I could feel it taking control of me. It felt much like being overshadowed by a ghost, but it left me in control mentally but not physically. Eventually, it completely overwhelmed me and I was lost to it. It was like being trapped in my own body, helpless to escape. I watched as the spore dug itself into my skin, filling and completely overshadowing my body. I watched helplessly as I fired the most intense energy blast at Vlad, destroying his clone and sending him flying through the air, completely weakened. I flew up halfway towards him, stopped and turned around to face the spore field.

"If this field is so integral to your plan, then I guess it has to go." I said, or at least my body said. I moved my hands close together and formed a ball of pure ecto-energy between them, hundreds of times more powerful than anything I had ever fired before. I heard Vlad mutter "No. Don't." from behind me but I had no control. I watched as my body fired the blast directly at the field. With my energy drained from the blast, I started to regain control of my body again; the spore however remained embedded under the surface of my skin. What happened next, I will never forget.

The blast, which should have completely vaporized the field, did nothing. As it approached the field, I watched as small bolts of energy jumped between the spore field and the energy blast. With each bolt, my attack got smaller and smaller; eventually being completely absorbed by the field before it ever made contact. The energy absorbed caused the entire field to glow a ghastly shade of green, before……..the entire field exploded with energy. The shock wave from the explosion of my energy, magnified thousands of timed by the spores, sent me and Vlad flying through the ghost zone; so far that we were actually blown back through the temporary portal in the Park. However, it didn't end there.

Being a temporary ghost portal, it was incredibly unstable to begin with. I watched as the energy that blasted us out continued to rise from the portal, creating an ecto-storm of a magnitude that had only been imagined before; The energy escaping from the portal like a geyser. The storm was so incredibly powerful that it turned the portal into a temporal rip in the dimensions, which began to grow. Vlad, fearing the worst, flew off. What he did after that, I can't say. I, however, was frozen in place; unable to move as the rip continued to move closer towards me. I probably would have died right then and there, but the next thing I knew, I was facing an ancient ghost named Clockwork, the ghost master of time. Around my neck hung a medallion shaped like a clock gear with a CW insignia within it. I looked and saw that he had frozen time, preventing the rip from expanding.

"Good." He said. "I was afraid I was going to be too late."

"What?"

"I was out studying the spectral spore phenomenon when I saw you create that explosion. I knew what was going to happen to the portal, but my hands are tied when it comes to changing the future. Well, with the exception of the Dark Phantom incident."

He sighed and continued, "The spores have infected the deeper half of the ghost zone, including my castle. I have it contained within a time field to speed up the cleansing process. As all knowing as I am, I am at a loss over this parasite." He reached into his purple robe and pulled out a white glove. "Here you go, Danny. You left this behind in the ghost zone. I attached a time charm to it to keep the spore from overpowering you as long as you wear it." He handed the glove to me and I immediately placed it over my right hand. I could feel the burning sensation of the spore melt away as it moved back to the surface of my skin, turning dormant.

"Wow, thanks Clockwork. But now what? What am I to do?"

He handed me a second medallion and said "With my castle consumed my powers are limited. I can only keep time frozen for a short time. Vlad will not stop on his quest to uncover the secrets of the spectral spores. You must leave Amity Park before time begins to flow again and find out what he is planning on doing. Use this second medallion to get some help. You should have no more than thirty minutes to get out of town. We will see each other again. Good luck, ghost-child." And with those words, he flew back into the time-frozen storm and disappeared back into the ghost zone.

Realizing that time was still against me, my first instinct was to quickly fly home. Upon reaching home, I found my parents sitting frozen in the living room, playing checkers, and Jazz sitting in the corner reading. I gave the second medallion to her, allowing her to move freely despite Clockworks spell. After quickly explaining the situation to her, we went into the basement and gathered up everything we could possibly grad and stuffed it into the trailer, which had thankfully been attached to the RV earlier that day. With only minutes to spare, we had managed to pack up everything of value from the house. I flew back inside to grab Mom and Dad while Jazz started up the RV. As I fazed them through the RV, I could see the effects of Clockwork's powers start to wear off. Jazz floored the car, taking off away from the ecto-storm. With time moving forward, I was forced to revert to my human form, less my parents discover that I was the ghost-boy. We had just reached the city limits when time began to move forward again. Mom and Dad, returning to the present time, became completely befuddled with their surroundings. I pointed to the city and ecto-storm through the window of the RV while Jazz continued to drive. Their faces turned as pale as a ghost as they watched the town being consumed.

Right then it hit me. Sam and Tucker. They were still in the city; and then I lost it. I screamed out their names and cried as I watched the entire town become consumed by the storm; the storm that I created. My father even had to hold me back so that I wouldn't jump out of the car to go back for them. My mother came over and held me close, a single tear running down her face. She just kept repeating "Everything will be fine." I don't know if this was as much for me as it was for her to keep her sanity. I looked down at my hand, at my protected right hand and cursed under my breath. It was then that I felt a new emotion growing deep within me, vengeance. I swore on the lives of Sam and Tucker that I would not only defeat Vald, but kill him."

----------------------------

Danny sighed as he finished his story, looking up at the shocked faces of his friends. He was surprised they were still staring at him; he had half expected them to curse him in disgust but that never came. What did follow was an even greater shock to him. Danielle, who had reverted to her brown haired human form, walked over to Danny and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up to see Danielle smiling at him. "It wasn't your fault, cousin. It was Vlad's." She said.

Blossom soon followed suit saying, "We have all made mistakes that have cost us dear. My sisters and I lost our fourth sister who we made unstable. We all know how hard it is to lose someone from a mistake. Ask Dexter." Dexter, who had remained silent and deep in thought, finally spoke up. "It was my sister. During the middle of a fight between me and my rival, Mandark, she…died protecting me from a bullet. I am forced to live with that burden. I know how hard it is to lose someone close to you but life must go on. It was a mistake that I will take to my grave but I will make sure that it does not happen again."

With these words, Danny broke down and cried. Afraid for her brother, Jazz ran over to him, thinking he was at wits end when she noticed he was smiling. Danny looked up at Jazz and then at his friend. "Thank you." he said. "I thought I was alone in this. That no one would want to get close to me again. I guess I was wrong. You are truly good friends, all of you. And I will die before I let anything happen to you or Megaville."


	10. The concert

The sun shown brightly as Danny and Danielle flew through the air. Flying on a warm, summer day always helped him relax. It had been a week since Danny told everyone about what happened in Amity Park and they were now closer than ever. Danny's parents were rarely home anymore; often out running around the city looking for ghosts. It gave Danny a little more of the freedom that he needed, allowing him to take off to relax and hang out with the Powerpuffs, often at his own slow pace. Danielle would usually stop by Danny's window in the morning, just after his parents took off. It would have been disastrous if they discovered Danny's "cousin". This day, however, Danny was actually in a rush.

Danny and Danielle were supposed to meet the Girls in the park today. Evidently there was a huge concert for an up and coming artist going on today. Finding their normal meeting place, a small clearing in the woods, Danny and Danielle flew to the ground and transformed back to their human forms. Standing in the middle of the clearing stood Blossom, arms crossed, looking slightly annoyed.

"Your late." She scolded.

"Yea sorry about that. I had to ditch the 'mighty ghost hunters' this morning." joked Danny. "They decided to stay home and clean up the lab today. I had to wait for their back to be turned to take of and get Dani."

"Well anyways Bubbles and Buttercup already went ahead to the concert, which should be starting any minute now." Just then, the unmistakable sound of a guitar came flowing through the trees. "Damn it" cursed Blossom as the three ran through the woods towards the music. As they continued to approach the stage, Danny started to get a feeling of déjà vu. Just as they were at the treeline, Danny was able to make out the lyrics that haunted him to this day:

"Oh, Ember, you will remember!  
Ember, one thing remains!  
Oh, Ember, so warm and tender!  
You will remember my name!"

He quickly grabbed Blossom and pulled her back into the trees, muffling the lyrics. She turned to face him angrily, yelling "What was that for?" Danny reached into his pockets and pulled out a pair of Fenton Phones, small ear phones that filter out spectral noise. "Just trust me and put these on." He said as he thrust them towards her. In a flash of light, Danny turned into his ghostly counterpart and walked out into the field. Danielle followed in suit and followed him out. Blossom was the last to leave, now wearing the Fenton Phones. Looking out into the field, Danny saw nothing but a sea of people surrounding a raised stage. He glared at the pasty-faced, rock diva playing on stage; her fiery blue hair actually flaring up as the crowd continued to chant her name: Ember McLain.

"Let's go guys" shouted Danny as he took off for the stage. Danielle and Blossom just stood there, confused as to what was going on. Danny, turning intangible, passed silently into the ground, allowing him to connect a swift uppercut to Ember as he passed up through the stage. "Hey, Pop Princess. Little early for a comeback tour, don't you think. Last I checked you were performing karaoke in the Ghost Zone." Ember quickly regained her composure and laughed, growing stronger as the crowd continued to chant her name. Ember just chuckled and said, "The time seemed right. Besides, the crowd doesn't seem to mind. And neither does you friends." Without warning, two bright beams of light descended onto Danny, one blue and one green. The force of the blast sent Danny flying back to where Danielle and Blossom were standing, their demeanor changed and ready to fight.

"How bout a power chord?" yelled Ember as she strummed across her guitar, sending out a wave of energy. The trio easily dodged the wave and each retaliated with an energy blast of their own, all three making direst hits. Ember, smoking green from the assault, barred her teeth and snarled at the three heroes.

"Give it up Ember, your outnumbered and out matched" shouted Danny, as he formed an energy ball in his smoking glove.

Ember chuckled again, responding "Well then I guess we'll just have to shift the odds a bit." She plucked three individual notes on her guitar and then stood their, arms crossed. In a flash of light, Bubbles and Buttercup were at Ember's side, eyes glowing red, energy bombs already formed in each hand. A third orange flash appeared from down below, as the monstrous Dr. X, wings spread, joined the fray. Blossom shuttered in the thought of having to fight her own sister. "Now its fair", laughed Ember, "3 on 3; giving me a chance to finish my concert. You kids have fun. " And with that, she floated back down to the stage below, leaving Danny, Danielle, and Blossom to deal with her brainwashed puppets.


	11. Battle Royal

Danny stared into the blank faces of Bubbles and Buttercup, their bodies radiating with energy. He felt bad for Blossom; how hard it was to fight someone you care about. He used to get that feeling almost daily when he would fight his old crush Valarie, the ghost hunter. He looked over at Blossom and saw a single tear roll down her face; she knew that this was a confrontation that was unavoidable. Dani floated on the other side of Blossom sizing up the monstrous Dr. X, whose fists had suddenly burst into flames.

"Danny." Blossom whispered. "You go and take care of Ember. I'll deal with my sisters." Danny looked back at her to see her eyes swimming with tears.

"You shouldn't have to fight them alone, let me help."

She shook her head, the resolve in her face was clear. Danny had never seen anyone so strong and determined. For a split second he thought of Sam. With her controlling, uptight parents, Sam was the strongest of his old friends. She never let her personal feelings stop her from doing what was right, no matter how painful.

Danny nodded to Blossom and turned intangible, floating silently away from the coming battle. Blossom sighed and turned to face her sisters. "Im sorry" she said as she fired a stream of energy at them, catching them off guard and sending them reeling through the air. She blasted after them, keeping them from recovering. Taking her cue from Blossom, Dani flew through Dr. X and shot ectoplasm at the back of his head sending him flying through the air. Danny actually chuckled watching them; for two little girls they could sure pack a punch.

Danny turned his attention back toward the stage. Ember had returned to the stage and had resumed her singing. As he flew towards the stage, Danny began channeling his ghost energy into his right hand. Turning solid again, Danny delivered a full powered punch directly into Ember's gut, sending her into a stand of guitars. "You know, everytime you come here it's the same song. 'You will remember my name'" Danny Mocked. "You desperately need some new material."

Ember climbed out of the rubble, a guitar in each hand, her fiery blue hair blazing as the crowd continued to chant her name. "Kid, you have no idea what your getting yourself into." Holding the guitars like swords, Ember charged Danny, thrusting a guitar forward. With no time to properly dodge, Danny jumped up and landed directly on the neck of the guitar; following up with a well placed kick to Ember's jaw. Stumbling back, Ember dropped both guitars to cradle her chin. Danny stooped down to pick up one of them and hurled it with all his might towards Ember head; striking her and leaving her unconscious. Danny reached for his thermos when he heard a scream from above. He looked up to see Dani on the defensive, as Dr. X pummeled her with fireballs. Even from the ground he could see her start to lose composure. Her powers were pushed to the limit.

Danny rose into the air and fired a stream of artic wind from his palm, encasing Dr. X in a cube of solid ice, sending him plummeting toward the ground. "I really owe Frostbite for that one" thought Danny as he approached the shaking Dani. "You ok?" he asked.

"Im sorry Danny but Im tapped. Im barely keeping myself together as it is. I just don't have the strength to fight anymore." As she held her shoulder, Danny saw a trickle of ectoplasm drip down her arm. "Go rest in the woods" Danny replied. "We can take care of this." Without another word, Dani dropped to the ground and ran into the foliage of the tree line. Danny turned to see Blossom deliver a punch that left Bubbles completely unconscious. As she fell from the sky, Danny caught her and placed her gently outside of the crowd. "No need for her to get anymore banged up than she already is. Damn you Ember" Thought Danny.

The music had started up again. Danny turned to see Ember back on her feet, playing again. Danny fired a blast over the crowd, aimed directly at Ember's head. With a murderous look in her eyes, wielding her guitar like a bat, she reflected the blast back towards Danny. Turning intangible, he allowed his attack to hit nothing but turf. Slipping into the ground, he moved silently back towards the stage. Surfacing directly behind Ember, Danny thrust the open end of his thermos into Ember's back. Channeling his energy into the thermos, a brilliant blue light burst from the open end, blasting Ember away before sucking her deep within its confines. Capping the thermos Danny looked over the crowd to see the effects of Ember's mind control wear off. "You've been canceled." Danny whispered to the thermos.

"Took you long enough." Danny looked up to see Blossom carrying an unconscious Buttercup down to the stage. Blossom's brilliant red dress was torn to shreds from the battle. Her left eye was swollen shut; while her normally neat, straight hair was in knotted and singed. Danielle, back in her human form, ran out from the tree line a serious limp in her step. "Sorry Danny. I'm sorry I'm so weak." Danielle cried as she reached the stage. "I just haven't been able to keep myself stable since we destroyed Vlad's cloning lab."

Danny rested his hand on her shoulder. "It's not your fault." He said. "If its anyone's fault, its Vlad's. Id bet my ghost powers that he's connected to all this. Can I count on you to help me kick his but back to Wisconsin? " A small smile crept over Danielle's face; she did particularly like punching Vlad before leaving him. Seeing Danielle smile, Danny flew over the crowd, picked up Bubbles and flew back. "Lets head back to my house." He suggested. "I think we could all use a nice rest after all this. Dani, grab onto me. Ill fly you home." With Danny holding Bubbles and Danielle and Blossom with Buttercup, they flew off in a flash of light, ready for a little rest and relaxation.


	12. The Calm before the storm

Dr X landed in the middle of the main cavern of Black Eden, his eyes searching for the bastard that infiltrated his lair. "When I find that cretin, Ill tear him limb from limb" though X. He looked to find nothing, literally nothing. His supercomputer had been disassembled and removed, leaving nothing but wires hanging from the wall. The Irken Zim had apparently abandoned this place as well. "Good riddance" Thought X. However, what worried X more than Zim or his equipment, was Bell.

"BELL!" Bellowed Dr. X, his voice echoing throughout the cavern.

"Hello, father." Came a cold voice from behind him.

He turned to see a young girl float directly through the wall of the cavern. Her jet black hair and dress contrasted by her ghastly pale skin. Her slender figure, hovering inches off the ground, radiated with energy. She seemed so dark and foreign yet there was something familiar about her. The eyes. Those large vacant eyes.

"Bell?" He asked, taking a step towards her.

"I'm sorry" She said as she pointed her open hand directly towards him. Without even flinching, Bell fired a beam of energy from her hand, vaporizing Dr. X, and floated silently back through the wall.

Danny phased back into his basement with everyone in tow. Dropping to the ground exhausted, he reverted back to his original form. He laid the unconscious Bubbles gently on the ground. Blossom, in turn, dropped Buttercup next to her sleeping sister. Dani ran off through the lab searching for a first aid kit to tend to Blossom's injuries. Danny sat up next to Blossom and stared at her, her face full of remorse.

"You OK?" He asked. "I'm fine." She snapped back and turned away from him.

From across the room he heard, Dani cry out "Where's the first aid kit?"

"Ask Jazz." He called back. Pausing for a moment, he added "Speaking of which, where is Jazz? And Dexter? Wasn't he staying back to work with her." The whole house seemed quiet and empty. His parents were almost never home to begin with but Jazz almost never left anymore. He did however notice the faint glow of the ghost portal. Danny grabbed the thermos, stood up and stared at the open portal.

"I don't remember leaving that open" He thought as he walked over towards it. Grasping the Fenton Thermos containing Ember, he jammed it into a small indent next to the portal; creating a vacuum and sucking Ember out of the thermos and back into the ghost zone. Ember's scream echoed throughout the lab as she was pulled back into the ghost zone once again. As her screams died down, Danny heard a familiar rumble; diving aside as a large metallic ship burst from the portal. It burst forth, skidding halfway across the basement, leaving a trail of sparks in its wake. Grabbing her sister, Blossom dived out of the ships path, crashing into a pile of used electronics.

Brushing himself off, Danny stood up to see the side of the ship open, revealing Jazz and Dexter, both with a stern look across their face. Danny groaned. "You really need to slow the Speeder down before passing back through the portal. But then again you've always been such a great driver." He joked sarcastically. Jazz showed no reaction to his snide comment. "What's wrong Jazz? " He tried again "You look like you've just seen a ghost…or two". Still nothing.

"Danny, girls." Jazz said her voice barely above a whisper. "There's something you need to see. Dexter, show them the disk." Dexter walked over to the massive computer terminal in the back of the room and loaded a CD into the machine. Almost instantly, a map of the ghost zone appeared on the screen. "Blossom, this is the ghost zone. Or at the least, the known areas of the ghost zone." began Dexter, the glow of the monitor casting an eerie aura about him. "Jazz and I have spent the past week exploring and studying the ghost zone, and more importantly the Spectral Spores. From what we gathered, we know that they act much like a fungus on earth, constantly spreading as long as they can draw nourishments from their surrounding area. This" He clicked a button on the keyboard "is the extent of the Spores infestation" Danny, Danielle and Blossom all stared dumbfound as the mass of red swallowed most of the screen. "From what we have seen, the spores have infected about 75 of the Ghost Zone." He continued, pointing to a small dark patch on the screen "Based on the rate of expansion and its trajectory, we think its point of origin is this unknown sector. We attempted to explore but the currents surrounding it were just too much for the Specter Speeder to handle." From across the room, Jazz chimed in "At this rate, the entire Ghost Zone will be engulfed in 2 days."

Danny collapsed to the ground shaking, the color draining from his face. "How did this happen?" He thought to himself as he looked at his infected hand. "There is no way to stop this infection."

"What happens after the 48 hour mark?" Blossom asked.

Dexter hung his head. "It will probably spread to the real world"

Suddenly, a high pitched siren tore through the silent lab, waking both Bubbles and Buttercup. Jazz quickly rushed to the computer terminal and opened a live video feed. "I have been working on some roaming ghost detectors." She explained. "They can detect a spectral entity and can transmit, in real-time, video of said specter." Everyone turned to look at the screen showing the middle of Megaville Central Park; more precisely the wide open field where Ember's concert was held just a few short hours ago. A small cloaked figure floated into the middle of the field. Holding one hand outstretched, she fired several small bolts of green lightening from he palm. Where the bolts stuck, they watched in awe as a glowing green ghost portal open, right in the center of Megaville. Danny looked at his hand, a sense of deja vu sweeping over him, as he felt the spore begin to resonate at the mere sight of the ghost zone.


	13. The Master of Time

Chapter 13 : The Master of Time

Danny floated through the Ghost Zone feeling both disturbed and at ease. He had always felt more relaxed while in the Ghost Zone (well, when he wasn't being hunted). His powers reacted more turbulent in the Human World, even when not active. In here though, they were calm and more controllable. He felt at home, and so did his spore.

Behind Danny flew Dani. Being an imperfect clone of a ghost-human hybrid led her to be greatly instable in the human world. This being her first real trip to the Ghost Zone, she felt surprisingly normal. Even while taping into her ghost powers, she felt solid and stable. "I never want to leave" she thought to herself.

Behind them floated Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup, all of whom had followed Danny through the portal opened by the cloaked figure were less impressed by the eerie nature of the Ghost Zone. The Ghost Zone, home of many of the creatures that go Bump in the Night was like a living nightmare for the three young girls.

The portal had placed the 5 of them just outside of a large castle made of gears with a large clock face. Danny had visited this place twice before, once during his dealings with his evil future self and again when trying to prevent Vlad's ghost powers from manifesting. Clockwork, ghost master of time, resided in this castle.

As Danny got closer he noticed a large hole in the clock face. Someone or something had been here not long ago as the edges of the hole continued to smolder. Flying in his fears were confirmed. The grand time chamber of Clockwork had been reduced to a pile of rubble. Under one pile, Danny noticed a small piece of purple fabric sticking out. Danny called to the girls and they quickly freed an ancient looking ghost with a long white beard and a smashed glass clock oh his chest.

"Clockwork, are you ok?" Asked Danny

"Uhh...", moaned the ancient ghost. "I need to rest a bit but I'll be fine"

"What happened here?" asked Dani.

"I was assaulted by a young ghost-girl with jet black hair and the most vacant eyes. Her powers were so great I was unable to warp her time-space. She shattered my stalf and stole the Sands of Time. A powerful being she once was to have gained that much additional that she could have hidden herself from me."

"The what?" questioned Buttercup with a lost look on her face

"The Sands of Time. In all representations of me designed by your kind, I am an old man who carried an hourglass of time. As you can see the old man part is true and the hourglass was an archaic vessel for those powers. Well the Sand of Time are the sands that once flowed through the hourglass. Ive kept them in my clock", he said pointing to his cracked chest, " which gave me more direct control over my powers and also caused my age to shift. Being old gets tiring."

"What could she do with the Sands? " Asked Blossom concerned, piecing together the identity of the mysterious female.

"Alone, nothing." Everyone sighed a breath of relief. "The Sands take eons to master. No, the true purpose of the Sands is to unlock the Vault of the Damned. Articles that are deemed too powerful for the flow of time are removed from the time stream and locked in a separate dimension at the far end of the Ghost Zone. The Infimap was almost added after Vlad stole it but Frostbite requested that it remain in their care."

"No!" cried Danny. "Vlad must be after some lost artifact."

"Not even close" came a cold voice from outside the hole in the tower.

Turning around, the five heroes saw the tech-suited Skulker floating next to the cloaked stranger that led them down this rabbit hole. The cloaked figure reached up and pulled her hood back, revealing her long flowing jet black hair and glowing red eyes. "Hey there Red. Remember me" she said smugly. "Or maybe this will help jog your memory" Tilting her head back, her body began to shimmer and became encased in a glowing green aura. When the field dispersed, the body of the White Powerpuff, Bell, remained floating.

"YOU! " Cried Blossom. 


	14. Bell's Dark Heart

Chapter 14:Bell's Dark Heart

"I knew you'd remember this face" said Bell in a sweet sing-song voice. She engulfed her body in her spectral aura, transforming back to her ghost form. "You may call me Bell Phantasm."

"Using part of the spectral spore's inherent energy and parasitic nature, we were able to imbue this child with the powers of specters", boasted Skulker.

"You three deal with Bell. Me and Dani will take the hunter", ordered Danny.

Bell removed her cloak revealing her long flowing black dress. Her ghastly pale-green skin showing in great contrast with her dark appearance. "I have waited for this moment for a long time", she said as her body crackled with energy.

Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup didnt even have time to dodge as three streaks of white light erupted from Bell's fingers, striking each of them square in the chest. The fiery pain shot through their bodies as they were blasted straight through the backside of the Clockworks' Tower. Bell raced after them, through the new window she helped add to to tower, only to be met with blinding flash of Blue, Red, and Green light. The girl quickly regained composure and had managed to prepare a powerful counter strike in only a matter of seconds. Blossom looked on in anticipation as the smoke began to clean from their last attack.

The smoke cleared revealing Bell, hovering there with naught but a small singe mark on her cheek. With the same childish demeanor, she coaxed "That it? Now Im sad."

"What is she?" questioned Blossom. "She took three direct blows and is still smiling? How are we..." But her thought were interrupted as Bell, with a quick flick of the wrist, sent a blade of pale green energy screaming through the air. Blossom was quick to dodge over the blade and using her momentum blasted off at near super sonic speed towards Bell; connecting a swift right hook directly to Bell's face. The force of the blow sent Bell careening into a nearby floating landmass, which crumbled around Bell's point of impact.

Blossom turned to look at her sister who were looking on in awe. They had never seen their sister act so aggressive during a fight. Blossom floated back towards her sister, panting. She hated using that maneuver. It is always so draining to fly that fast. Right before reaching their side, Blossom turned while forming a ball of red energy in her hand and bicycle kicked the energy ball into the debris cloud floating around Bell's impact site. Following suit, Bubbles formed two energy blasts in her hands and released them, spinning like a blade. Buttercup formed a green aura around her clenched fist and unleashed it with a single quick punching motion.

The area around Bell exploded in a vibrant display of color and then nothing. Nothing, not even a speck of dust remained where Bell and the floating island once were. And then from nothing, there was Bell, her childish demeanor still radiating. Her body was slightly brused, burnt and torn but was standing strong. Bell chuckles "Being a ghost has its advantages. Now its my turn."

Bell extended her arms and formed two tiny balls of energy, each at the tip of her index finger. Turning intangible, she flew effortlessly through Bubbles, inserting the tiny bombs into her shoulder blades. Turning tangible again, Bell turned with a smug grin and snapped her fingers, causing the energy balls to explode.

Bubbles screamed in agony as a crippling pain shot through her body. It was the most intense pain she had ever experienced. Both arms hung limp as her shoulder blades were completely obliterated. Loosing consciousness from the pain, Bubbles floated stationary; her arms dangling like wet spaghetti.

"You Bitch. Ill kill you!" Screamed Buttercup as she charged the spectral Bell.

"Tisk tisk", you never learn Bell said lazily. Extending her index and middle fingers, she fired a beam of white and green energy straight through Buttercup, missing her vitals at that angle but severing her spine with great precision. She made only a tiny squeak before looking consciousness herself.

Blossom look on in horror as her two sister fell to this monster of a girl. "Why?" she cried, tears swelling up, "Why do you want to hurt us? What have we ever done to you?"

What childish innocent that remained of Bell's face quickly washed away and was replaced with pure rage. "Why?!" she said. "Because I see you and your sisters and it reminds me of what my life was. You have everything! I have nothing and its all your fault!" She fired a single bolt through Blossom's left hand. Blossom looked on, unfazed.

"I dont understand. I only met you once before this when we fought. I didnt even know your name." Another bolt fired through Blossom's right hand.

"Where did Professor Utonium learn about the properties of Chemical X? My father, Doctor X, developed the compound. He wanted Utonium to develop the ultimate weapon using Chemical X as a catalyst for his genetic research. He left the test vial with Utonium who used it successfully in your creation." Bell's rage was starting to slip. Blossom could see tears start to well up in her eyes. "My father wanted to take and train you to use your powers but Utonium refused. Instead he tried to recreate your work while using a more potent strain of Chemical X. He failed. He used one part of everything nice too little and the imbalance created an explosion. My father was mutated by the Chemical X radiation and his heart warped. The next 10 years of my life were nothing but painful training and neglect. I wasnt a child. I was a weapon." Bell was now hunched over, tears streaming down her face. " Then I saw you. I saw three girls, exactly like me but able to live a normal life. As I watched, I grew to envy and despise you. All I want is to be loved. IS THAT SO MUCH TO ASK?!" Bell screamed as she began to sob.

Blossom felt such sympathy for the child in front of her. She wasn't an evil person. Her childish ways were twisted and warped to make her into the thing she was today. "Im so sorry Bell. I can't even begin to imagine what your life was like. But being a Powerpuff isnt the perfect life you envisioned. We are feared by our peers, chastized by the community and hunted by our enemies. Few people actually accept us for who we are. Our family and friends have been threatened time and time again. If I could, I would trade my powers in a heartbeat to have a normal life." Blossom extened her hand. "I dont hate you for what you have done. I want to help you. You are still a Powerpuff. Please. Help us. Join us." 


End file.
